Can compassionate reform survive in the face of the riots?

The riots and looting of recent days have shocked the whole country, shaken it to the core. In response there has been what seems like a race to be most strident in condemning the rioters. Whilst their actions are certainly utterly unacceptable it is not for the compassionate reform group to look to their punishment under the law.


The question for us is whether compassionate reform has a role to play here as well. The answer is of course yes. The responses to these incidents have been - with a few honourable exceptions - notable for the lack of consideration and understanding of the wider political and social context.

We live in a society in which - to quote a famous film of the 80s - greed is good. We have placed the pursuit of wealth above almost all other considerations. Of course not everybody has bought into this consumerist dream/nightmare.

But whatever our actions as individuals we must recognise our shared responsibility as members of society. We must recognise that these people are a part of our society also and question how our society came to raise people who consider this awful behaviour acceptable. We must try to find what little common ground we may have in order to understand their actions in the wider context and work to ensure this doesn't happen again.

We must offer our society's youth hope and education and opportunities to better themselves so that they can take pride in themselves and their communities. Our political system must be opened up so that everybody has a say.

Above all we must remodel our society to get back the values that made it great to begin with - compassion, respect, tolerance, love, community. We must place these things before and above the urge to consume and accumulate.

Only then can we truly and compassionately reform our society and only then can we hope never to see dark days such as these again.